When cleaning commercial buildings such as offices, retail stores, warehouses, and the like, it is common for the floors of such buildings to be wet mopped regularly by janitorial personnel using commercial mops and roll-around mop buckets. Modem commercial mop buckets generally are made of molded plastic that contain water or cleaning solution for wetting the mop and are usually provided with wheels or casters so that the bucket can be moved easily from location to location. In addition, such mop buckets usually are also provided with a wringer assembly for ringing excess water or cleaning solution from the mop after it has been dipped in the bucket and before it is applied to the floor. Wringer assemblies are available in a variety of forms such as, for example, down press wringers and side press wringers, but all function in substantially the same way by compressing the mopping yarns of the mop between opposed surfaces to squeeze excess absorbed liquid from the mop yarns. As liquid is squeezed from the mop yarns, it is expelled from the wringer through perforations or through other openings in the opposed surfaces of the wringer and falls back down into the bucket.
One problem with commercial mop buckets in the past, and indeed with commercial mopping operations in general, occurs when janitorial personnel need to take a break and leave the mop and mop bucket unattended. Since the mopping yarns are usually wet, the mop cannot conveniently be left on the floor and generally must be left in the mop bucket itself. However, since the handles of commercial mops tend to be relatively heavy, they tend to fall over and, in some cases, their weight can flip the entire mop out of the bucket resulting in a mess that must be cleaned. Accordingly, it has been common that, when a mop is to be left unattended, the bucket and mop are rolled to a wall or other structure and the mop handle is leaned against the wall to support it and prevent it from flopping over. Obviously, this is a less than desirable solution, particularly in large open buildings such as warehouses, since the mop and mop bucket must be moved away from the area being mopped and returned when it is desired to continue the mopping operation. This is inconvenient and can add a surprising amount of unproductive time in simple relocation of the mop bucket during a large mopping operation.
Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus that will eliminate problems caused by mop handles falling over and flipping the mop out of its mop bucket when the mop is unattended. Such a method and apparatus should provide support for the mop handle without an ancillary surface to lean the mop handle against and should accomplish this without requiring that the mop bucket be moved from the area being mopped. It is to the provision of such a method and apparatus that the present invention is primarily directed.